


to walk another mile for you (with you)

by Alephyr



Category: Tales of Berseria, Tales of Series
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen, Near endgame, Pre-Prologue, berseria's family themes consume my soul, two separate parts but there's very slight spoilers so not heavy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-02-08 00:33:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12852882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alephyr/pseuds/Alephyr
Summary: Their hazardous journey gets a send-off not without an endearing moment or two.  The difference between the weight of the world on her back between then and now, that she doesn't realize.Based on a spur-of-the-moment headcanon with piggyback rides.





	to walk another mile for you (with you)

**Author's Note:**

> The game's strong family dynamics and themes really hit home hard for me, so I wanted to write a couple of snippets containing such.
> 
> Originally I wrote this over the summer, then chucked it in the WIP pile, pulled it back out recently to finish it... only to find it was already completed, lol. Unless I forgot something, but it is done.

 

"Looks like you have a sprained ankle. You won't be walking for at least a week."

Laphicet winces at his sister's matter-of-fact tone (  _feels the bite of her disapproval_ ), and looks downward at the ground.  "I'm... s-sorry, Velvet.  I... just wanted to help you out by distracting that angry prickleboar."

"Laphi..."  Velvet sighs in resignation, couldn't bring herself to scold further than already necessary, rubbing the side of her head with a hand.  When a small pack of aggressive prickleboars had shown up, Velvet told Laphi to hide and stay put while she went to draw them away and kill them one by one—that was until she heard the frightened shouting of her name, whirling around to see the mother prickleboar charging her flank.

Then everything was a blur—adrenaline clouded her vision as she side-stepped roughly, swinging her blade in panicked self-defense; Laphi running out of hiding; luring the bigger animal toward him, nearly trampling and running him through as he ran clumsily to get out of fury's way...

"Come on, let's get home and I'll make you your favorite stew," she says after checking up for any other visible wounds or bleeding.  Laphi touches the cleaned scratch on his cheek and tries not to wince as the stinging pain shoots like campfire's flying sparks throughout the side of his face.

When he focuses his eyes again, he sees the back of her crouched position.

"But Velvet, I'm not a kid anymore!  I don't need piggyback rides."

"You say that, but you shouldn't be walking on your injured foot either!  It's better to rest, or do you want me to carry you the other way?" Laphicet knows it's a scare—boys don't like being carried bridal style and be embarrassed by it, and he doesn't either at his age.

"...Ah, all right.  ...if it makes you happy, Velvet, I'll do it for you."  Climbing onto her back was slow but comes with ease like the few times before when they were younger — small, cheerful kids with drying mud in their messy hair and on their patchy pants when Celica was around.  Velvet back then had fallen a lot trying to carry him, but he insisted on more until she'd tell him she couldn't with her sore back from that—and every other—attempt.  And yet, she still kept trying.

Crisp, freshly fallen leaves crunch under a pair of feet, her boot heels digging in the surface's soft soil, imprinting half ripped leaves and flattened wet grasses into the tracks.  Late summer's misty sunlight seeps through the forest waning in the early autumn season, she passes a pumpkin patch and remarks how big and golden orange they've become for the upcoming harvest before winter would knock at their door.

There are some moments of irregular breathing, a huff, staggering slow steps, a couple of wet, squeaky grass slips, and then — “are you holding up OK, Laphi?”

“Mm... yeah, but what about you, Velvet?  You sound tired out already.”  He feels her back arch outward, pushing him upward, and a tighter hook under his legs.

“I'll be fine.  Besides, I haven't fallen yet,” she says with a near half-laugh in her honey voice.  Laphi can't see but is sure Velvet's eyes brighten like the sunrise's gentle glow when speaking those words and his lips stretch into a soft smile.  Her shoulder twitches from the sensation of Laphicet burying his face into the back of her shoulder blade, humming like the Eastgand yellow bird's soothing lullabies during the dead of the night in Aball.

The oil lanterns are her first cue they've arrived back home, brushing stray leaves off the stone steps as she went up, halting just before the door.

She realizes then she carried him all the way back successfully without her legs giving out, and she wonders if Laphicet has been eating enough to not be dead weight on her back anymore.  Or was it from all her house chores and outside work of gaining muscle and endurance...?

A  _'where are we?'_  murmur draws her out of her thoughts, right as she decided the next few days' courses of meals for Laphicet to heal (and perhaps regain that weight once healthy).

"We're home.  I'll start cooking supper as soon you're in bed.  Don't do anything too reckless to hurt yourself more, got it?!"  Velvet simply laughs when Laphicet tries to retort in his half-asleep state.

* * *

( ...  _home_... )

* * *

The calm ocean currents crash against the ship's hull, and she feels the warm and cold winds simultaneously — streams of the soothing embrace of the breeze and the harsh, whipping gusts mingled in the air, the blanket of gray clouds whirling overhead with speckles of a clear, glassy night sky in between thick puffs.  It's a sure sign that a thunderstorm is due to come.

Velvet leans against the rail, her loosely tied hair and tattered jacket gently whipping about behind her, watching the sea form an enormous field of stormy blue mountains with white caps, dissolving just as fast as the waves drift past, carrying on through time ( like the great continental shifts in the distant morrow ).

She looks over her shoulder as clattering footsteps go past, a pirate dragging a thick rope across the deck, whisking it into a circle to leave by the mast before he walks again toward the cabin, swallowed by the light beyond the door.  Shifting her gaze to the rear of the ship, she sees no one by the steering wheel and sighs, heading to walk up the stairs.

Once she reaches the top, she hears faint sounds of thumping and shuffling, darting her eyes to the source—pale blond hair just behind sacks and crates, and she moves closer.

"...Do you plan on sleeping out here?"

Velvet's sudden voice startles Laphicet from his dozing slumber, a book wide open in his gripping hands.  "...Ah!  Velvet!"

He shifts to sit upright, his eyes lowering to the book on his lap and shifts it off to the floorboards at his feet.  "No, I was just... reading this book Eizen found in Meirchio, then I liked these winds so I closed my eyes for a few minutes..." he picks up the book again after getting into a comfortable position, a small finger trails the page then pointing at some sketchy illustrations. "Look!  It even has drawings of extinct creatures that used to walk on our lands or swam in our seas!  You know how- how we're looking for treasure?  Back at those ruins, I wonder if there are secrets to uncover..."

A small, heartfelt smile tugs at Velvet's lips, "treasure hunting again?"

Laphicet hums, beaming with a wide smile.  "Yeah!  Eizen says this is fuel for more adventure."

She can't help the smile growing into a full one, the laugh that escapes her almost sounds half-hearted, but the sincerity in her eyes say otherwise.

"Right.  Before that, you should go to sleep.  You wouldn't want to worry Eleanor too much."  There follows a moment of silence, Laphicet's wide eyes shine brighter as the night cloaked around them grow darker and colder.  He nods then, tilting his head to his book, holding it for a few seconds before closing it with finality.

When Laphicet still isn't quick to start moving, instead looking out at the navy blue ocean, Velvet's lips turn to a slight frown and shifts into his line of vision.  "Is everything all right?  Can you walk from here, Phi?"

Laphicet's gazes up high— and she was caught off guard how bright and brilliant his eyes were, like somebody had taken two giant stars from the sky and plant them there to blossom.  Wide, full of curiosity and wonder, shining pale yellows of the night skies— and he murmurs something so quiet Velvet nearly didn't catch.

( It reminded her of the times her brother was embarrassed to inquire something, mumbling incoherently of whatever he wanted and she'd always ask him to repeat it. )

"Here."  She offers her back, it takes Laphicet a few moments to figure out what the gesture meant, slowly pulling himself onto her back.  Velvet takes the book after feeling it poke her side, carrying it for him instead so the other could wrap his arms around Velvet's neck comfortably.

"...It's cold."  She feels him mumble against the back of her neck once she stands, the biting chill winds brushing her face and through her hair.  Huh, has the other wind gone?  Tightening her hold of his legs to transmit any kind of warmth to him, she starts to descend the stairs toward the deck, slowly, seemingly counting one step at a time.

More than halfway down, Laphicet stretches to snake his arm around Velvet's neck more, his cheek pressed against her nape, and she sees for a split second of walking through a flurry of autumn leaves and surging lukewarm emotions, nearly stumbles on the penultimate step to the bottom, jolting to a halt, reality snapping back into place and those sparking emotions ceased dead cold.

"...Velvet...?"

There's no response for a few moments, causing Laphicet to turn his head, putting his chin lightly on the crook between her shoulder and neck. Relieved it isn't full force to a pressure point as her brother used to do, which had given poor her uncomfortable twitching and impending muscle spasms.

She has yet to answer when she moves again, the sounds much lighter on the floorboards.

"...Laphi used to ask for these all the time, even though he was too heavy for me to carry," she begins, voice quiet enough the winds may as well muffle it.  The number of times she felt the danger of dropping Laphi made her fall forward by sheer will to not let him get harmed, the pant tears and knee scrapes be damned.  Lowering the eyelids as she reminiscences the old days, she feels... almost disappointed those gentle, rippling lukewarm emotions doesn't resurface from nostalgia.

"Am I too heavy?"

_Come to think of it - Phi is rather lightweight._

The corners of her mouth quirk up slightly, a breathy laugh sounds out.  "No, it's quite on the contrary actually."

Laphicet's chin presses harder into her crook and she fights the urge to move her shoulder under his chin.

"Can we do this more often, Velvet?"

She wonders for a moment exactly what he meant.  Velvet's footsteps slow to a stop again, peering out over the railing, following where the ocean and sky meet at the horizon, stretching into an endless spherical arc.

 _I can't promise that, Phi._   She wanted to say, and there's a bitter taste of blood rolling in her mouth.  Velvet couldn't bear to give such a hopeless answer.  Something... more genuine.

She almost envies the wide seas and the vast skies for the endless possibilities.

But, for once, does not curse it.  There lies hope beyond.

"...Yeah.  We will."

* * *

( ...  _i want us to go home, laphi._  ... )

* * *

 

 **~ _fin_**.


End file.
